Rifle with noise damper

ABSTRACT

A rifle barrel having a sound suppressor and a rifle comprising such a barrel. Material disposed over the rifle barrel and extending longitudinally and distally from a proximal end of the rifle barrel defines a housing. The housing surrounds at least a majority of the sound suppressing element, which is connected to the rifle barrel solely by containment within the housing. The sound suppressing comprises an acoustic labyrinth formed by a plurality of components disposed together along a longitudinal plane coextensive with an axis of the rifle barrel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No.13/564,868, filed Aug. 2, 2012 (status: pending), which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/522,659, filed Jan. 9, 2009(status: granted as U.S. Pat. No. 8,261,651 on Sep. 11, 2012), which isa National Stage of international Application No. PCT/IB2007/054413,filed Oct. 31, 2007, which claims the benefit of Spanish PatentApplication No. U 200700101, filed Jan. 12, 2007, the disclosures of allof the foregoing of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND O THE INVENTION

A rifle comprising a barrel, a bore within the barrel, and a noisedamper, wherein the noise damper is over-molded or over-injected on thebarrel so that the barrel and noise damper form a single part.

Various silencers and mechanisms to couple the silencer to the barrel ofa carbine or pistol are known in the state of the art.

For example, European Patent No 1247057, of 2000, in the name of thecompany HECKLER & KOCH GMBH is known, which discloses a coupling deviceto secure a silencer on the barrel of a portable firearm that comprisesa fastening for securing the silencer on the barrel of the portablefirearm, where the silencer essentially has the form of a tube, with acoupling bracket fitted to the rear end of the silencer, and a barrelmouth that adjusts to the coupling bracket, on which the couplingbracket can he secured, and the barrel mouth presents a non-roundconfiguration, where a supplementary part is installed on the couplingbracket on the side opposite the first and which can rotate with acontra-form complementary to the non-round configuration, so that thesupplementary part can be secured to the barrel mouth only in oneangular position. The silencer, together with the coupling bracket, ispositioned so that it can rotate with respect to the supplementary part,and a blocking device is planed for inclusion, which will immobilize thesilencer, together with the coupling bracket on the supplementary part,at a chosen angular position, without it being able to rotate.

The same company also owns European Patent No 1117970 of 2000, whichdiscloses a coupling device for securing a silencer onto the barrel of aportable firearm including a fastening for securing the silencer ontothe barrel of the portable firearm with a retention projection, which ispositioned on the silencer, and which presents an orifice that centers acontra-projection, which is positioned on the barrel and which presentscentered adjustment surfaces that adjust in the orifice, and a pin thatcan be dismounted for securing the retention projection on thecontra-projection, so that the orifice and the adjustment surfaces arepositioned centrally in a consecutive fashion in a seating zone, andwith which at least one expansion space is provided between the twoaxial ends of the seating zone.

Lastly, European Patent 0772758 dated 1.995 is also known, in the nameof Mr. Bernard Louvat, which discloses a silencer for a day-pigeon orsports shotgun. It comprises a tubular body that adapts over thebarrel(s) of the firearm and has a ring-shaped decompression chamberbehind the tubular body, together with a series of internal transveralbaffles held in place by separation parts, and includes orifices thatallow the lead shot to pass through and wad evacuation. The silencer isadaptable to all calibers of clay-pigeon and sports shotguns and rifles,single or double-barrel, side-by-side or over/under, together with gauge12 or 14 garden rifles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention is a considerable advance in the sporting and fire riflessector because it increases the performance of the firearm and reducesnoise.

Economic advantages of the invention arise from a noise damper that isover-molded or over-injected on the barrel of an sporting or fire rifleso that the barrel and noise damper are a single integral assembly.

In view of the noise damper being manufactured by over-molding orover-injection, the invention offers significant economic advantages interms of the production of barrels with noise dampers, since barrels andtheft noise dampers are usually two independent parts.

As discussed above, the prior art typically requires mechanisms tocouple the noise damper to the barrel. The coupling must providestability (no movement) as well as firing reliability. In other words,it has to fit and, at the same time, remain calibrated with the frontand rear sights centered. This is a problem, since centering is requiredeach time the noise damper is coupled to the barrel. In contrast,centering of the sights is not necessary in the exemplary rifledisclosed herein in that the front and rear sights are always centeredbecause the front sight is fixed to the noise damper, which isover-molded or over-injected onto the barrel.

The noise damper also has an improved noise damper insulating mechanism.Traditionally, a series of loose parts are employed in noise dampers,which are then generally wrapped in cotton or similar materials. Theexemplary rifle disclosed herein includes a noise damper comprising atleast two parts that define an acoustic labyrinth, which is an evidentsaving from he economic point of view, since the acoustic labyrinth isvery easy to and manufacture. This feature also offers a significanttechnical improvement, because when the parts are coupled inside thebarrel, they correctly center the exit pathway for the bullet or pellet,

An exemplary embodiment described herein provides an sporting or firerifle comprising a barrel, a bore within the barrel, and a noise damper,wherein the noise damper is over-molded or over-injected on the barrelso that the barrel and noise dampener form a single, integral part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to facilitate the description, the present description isaccompanied by four sheets of drawings that show an exemplaryembodiment, which is cited as a non-limiting example of the scope of thepresent invention:

FIG. 1 is a side view of an sporting or fire rifle according to theexemplary embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken through line II-II of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken through line of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 illustrates two parts of the noise damper of the rifle of FIGS. 1through 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 Wustrates an sporting or Ore rifle comprising a barrel 1 with abore therein, a sight 6, and a noise damper 3 that has been over-moldedor over-injected on the barrel 1.

FIG. 2 illustrates the barrel 1, the noise damper 3, two parts 4 and 5of the noise damper 3, and a cover 10.

FIG. 3 shows the barrel 1, the noise damper 3, the cover 10, the sight 6and an over-molded or over-injected housing 7 that encloses the parts 4and 5.

Finally, FIG. 4 shows the parts 4 and 5, each comprising partitions 8and neckings 9. In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, thenoise damper 3 is over-molded or over-injected on the barrel 1.

In this way, the noise damper 3 and the barrel 1 form a single, integralpart.

As can be seen in the section of FIG. 2, the two parts 4 and 5 of thenoise damper 3 within the housing 7 define an insulating mechanism ofthe noise damper 3 by defining an acoustic labyrinth that ends with thecover 10 and provides damping of the firing noise.

Upon assembling the parts 4 and 5, the partitions 8 and the neckings 9on the partitions 8 define a space or passage between the two parts 4and 5 as an extension of the bore within the barrel 1.

In an exemplary embodiment, the sight 6 can be fixed onto the noisedamper 3, illustrated in FIG. 1.

This disclosure describes a new sporting or fire rifle with a noisedamper. The examples described here do not limit the present invention,which may have various applications and/or adaptations, all of which arewithin the scope of the following claims.

1. A rifle having a rifle barrel and a sound suppressor, the riflecomprising: a structure defining a housing comprising an over-molded orover-injected material disposed over the rifle barrel and extendinglongitudinally and distally from a proximal end of the rifle barrel suchthat the structure and the rifle barrel form a single, integral piece,the portion of the housing extending longitudinally and distally fromthe proximal end of the rifle barrel consisting of the over-molded orover-injected material; and a sound suppressing element comprising anacoustic labyrinth insert positioned within the housing such that thehousing surrounds at least a majority of the acoustic labyrinth insert,the acoustic laybrinth insert defining a passage that comprises alongitudinal extension of a bore of the rifle barrel, the soundsuppressing element having a radial structure outward from such passageconsisting of the acoustic labyrinth insert and the housing.
 2. Therifle of claim 1, wherein the sound suppressing element is disposedadjacent the proximal end of the rifle barrel.
 3. (canceled)
 4. Therifle of claim 1, wherein the housing entirely surrounds the soundsuppressing element.
 5. The rifle of claim 1, wherein the soundsuppressing element has a plurality of partitions that at least partlydefine the acoustic labyrinth insert.
 6. The rifle of claim 1, furthercomprising a cover on a distal end of the housing.
 7. The rifle of claim1, further comprising a sight affixed to the structure.
 8. The rifle ofclaim 7, wherein the sight is a front sight.
 9. The rifle of claim 1,wherein a portion of the structure is in direct contact with the riflebarrel.
 10. The rifle of claim 1, wherein the material disposed over therifle barrel comprises material over-molded or over-injected onto torifle barrel.
 11. (canceled)
 12. The rifle of claim 1, wherein a portionof the material over-molded or over-injected onto to rifle barrel is indirect contact the rifle barrel.
 13. The rifle of claim 1, wherein thesound suppressing element comprises a plurality of parts assembledtogether.
 14. The rifle of claim 13, wherein the plurality of partsdefines a longitudinal central passage therebetween that comprises alongitudinal extension of a bore of the rifle barrel.
 15. The rifle ofclaim 1, wherein the structure is coupled to the rifle barrel to provideno movement therebetween. 16-35. (canceled)
 36. A rifle having a soundsuppressor, the rifle comprising a rift product formed by a processcomprising the steps of: forming a structure on a rifle barrel,including over-molding or over-injecting material over the rifle barrelso that the structure comprises a housing, the structure and the riflebarrel form an integral assembly, the housing of the structure extendslongitudinally and distally from a proximal end of the rifle barrel, andthe portion of the housing extending longitudinally and distally fromthe proximal end of the rifle barrel consisting of the over-molded orover-injected material; inserting a an acoustic labyrinth insert insidethe housing of the structure such that the structure houses and radiallysurrounds at least a majority of the acoustic labyrinth insert andcouples the acoustic labyrinth insert to the rifle barrel, and theacoustic laybrinth insert defines a passage that comprises alongitudinal extension of a bore of the rifle barrel, the soundsuppressing element having a radial structure outward from such passageconsisting of the acoustic labyrinth insert and the housing.
 37. Therifle of claim 36, wherein the housing entirely surrounds the soundsuppressing element.
 38. The rifle of claim 37, wherein a portion of theover-molded or over-injected material is in direct contact with therifle barrel.
 39. The rifle of claim 37, wherein the sound suppressingelement comprises a plurality of parts assembled together.
 40. The rifleof claim 37, wherein the plurality of parts consists of two parts.41-47. (canceled)
 48. The rifle of claim 36, further comprising a coveron a distal end of the housing.